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NCAA women's tournament: Stanford hammers South Dakota

By Dan Wright

Correspondent

Posted:
03/22/2014 05:47:18 PM PDT

Updated:
03/22/2014 10:13:15 PM PDT

AMES, Iowa -- Tara VanDerveer and her second-seeded Stanford team made the trip here for the opening rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament with a specific agenda: Win twice and get home-court advantage in the regional semifinals.

The Cardinal is halfway there.

Senior forward Chiney Ogwumike scored 23 points to lead four players in double figures as the Cardinal handled 15th-seed South Dakota with a businesslike 81-62 win Saturday in the first round.

Stanford (30-3) will face Florida State (21-11) on Monday in the second round. The 10th-seeded Seminoles opened with a 55-44 upset of No. 7 seed Iowa State.

"Our team is on a mission coming here," VanDerveer said. "It's not a secret that we want to go back to Stanford and play at Stanford. That's a given. But you have to do the right things."

The Stanford campus will be a host site for the regional semis starting next Sunday.

Ogwumike scored the game's first basket from close range, netting the 2,630th point of her college career to break a tie with former Cardinal standout Candice Wiggins at the top of the Pac-12's all-time career-scoring list.

"It means a lot," said Ogwumike, who was 11 of 19 from the field. "Candice Wiggins messaged me and said, 'Hey, you can do it, go for it.' That was pretty sweet to have that beforehand."

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The Coyotes (19-14) made five of their first six shots and briefly led by three points in the early going, but, by the midway point of the first half, Stanford's talented frontcourt trio began to overpower them.

Ogwumike (12 points), Bonnie Samuelson (nine) and Mikaela Ruef (four points, six rebounds) shot a combined 11 of 18 from the field in the first half to help Stanford build a 42-27 lead at the break.

Stanford had to finish the game without Ruef, who suffered an unspecified injury while scrambling for a loose ball with 4 minutes and 47 seconds left in the first half and didn't return. Ruef's teammates were able to maintain the double-digit cushion without her, but VanDerveer confirmed Ruef will be back for their Monday matchup against Florida State.

Samuelson buried six 3-pointers and finished with 18 points. Lili Thompson added 11 points, and Amber Orrange had 10 points and nine assists for the Cardinal.

"We know that Chiney is going to get tripled and doubled every game and that we need to help relieve some of that pressure by making some shots from the outside," Samuelson said. "I just try to catch and shoot, and hope it goes in. Tonight it did."

Samuelson's 3-pointer with seven minutes left pushed Stanford's lead to 25. Though the Cardinal made 10 3-pointers, it also outscored South Dakota 46-14 in the paint.

VanDerveer liked the balance and is hoping for a repeat performance Monday.

"It was a team effort," VanDerveer said. "We're very excited to be playing Monday night."